We're in the Cotswolds, on our second motorhome adventure. Dreary weather at home, a set of new van wheels waiting for us to collect from Chesterfield and the opportunity of visiting the Stokies (Stoke-on-Trent family) takes us off again. Typically, the weather forecast is ‘uncertain’ about where in the country we might find sunshine and now that we're in Middle England the sun has apparently come out at home!
Cotswolds - chocolate box villages (where did that reference come from), fine country clothing, sedate hill walking and expensive quality tourist shopping is my assessment of it so far. Yesterday we came across a shop selling nothing but brushes; all kinds of brushes. There were clothes brushes, floor brushes, hair brushes, nail brushes, shaving brushes, vegetable brushes, fruit brushes and mushroom brushes. There were strange shaped brushes for dusting the rare books in your library (yeah!), brushes for waiters to take the crumbs of your damask tablecloth and beautifully soft little babies’ hairbrushes; everything made from natural wood and different types of bristle. I think it was The Oxford Brush company in Burford. I spent ages in there but came away with nothing. As usual, I couldn't make up my mind what to spend any meagre budget on.
In Chipping Campden we came across a shop specialising in cutlery and table ornaments! A visit to the Sunday craft fair though revealed the usual Womens Guild type of thing - knitted baby clothes, aprons and oven cloths, jams, chutneys, homemade jewellery and a bit of glasswork. Some things are the same everywhere.
I wrote that yesterday. This morning we woke up in Derbyshire. Rain meant that Cotswold meandering wasn't as attractive so we got some miles under the tyres instead. Before we left, though, we stopped by the Rollright Stones near Chipping Norton. It's a Neolithic site and there is magic there. We came across an adjacent woodland where wood cutters were busy and interesting structures were being assembled using the cuttings and the brash. A country lady, whose name turned out to be Claire, invited us in to the private wood and told us what was happening. Bought some twenty years ago to preserve its importance as an ancient and sacred site, she and her husband had planted hundreds of trees of different species and the project now includes lovely stick and brash structures as part of the woodland management, ecological support and aesthetic appeal. We chatted with the woodcutter artist and left there feeling we had tapped into the ancient and continuing magic of that lovely place. The project is called Neolithic Echoes and there is a website for it.
It's still raining. Waking up this morning I half expected to find ourselves afloat, in a Hymer ark rather than a camper van. It's heartening to know that Richard, Libby and the children have had a week of sunshine in Portugal and Owen, Jess and the children are enjoying sunshine at our caravan. It's the last week of the boys’ Easter holiday so a bit of sunshine for them is a gift that should get them away from TV and iPad games!
One of the books I am currently reading is “Being Mortal - Illness, Medicine and What Matters in the End” by Atul Gawande. I'd not heard of it until it was mentioned in a discussion of end of life care on a radio programme. Maybe my interest has something to do with my advancing years but it is nevertheless a very good account of the issues we face nowadays with an ageing population. I don't really want to contemplate how I might end this life I've been given, but this book seems to suggest I should give it a bit more thought. I could get morbid here and tell you all my thoughts about how I might spare my loved ones the trauma of dealing with my dying time but it's Tuesday (good enough reason not to get too morbid 😉). But, there’s nothing like retirement and having time on your hands to make you think about what life is all about, what we're supposed to do with it and what we'll leave behind.
Talking about purpose (was I?) - the plastics thing. I was soldiering on with the challenge while we were at home in the caravan but now we're on the road again it is MUCH more difficult. I haven't given up completely though, I promise.
Saying of the week - “Pessimism is a waste of time!” Lol!
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